Boy from Pallet
by Voiddragon11
Summary: Ash is stuck in a rut, unable to find a job, he is becoming more and more tempted to leave Pallet town to follow in his fathers footsteps and become a Pokemon master. His mind is made up to leave when he becomes involved with a certain redheaded Thus accompanied by his overprotective Mightyena and Charmander Ash leaves on a journey to hopefully become a Pokemon master.


Well I have decided to write this story after a very…very long absence from Pokémon I recently found an old Gameboy advance in my attic and suffice it to say I am now addicted to it. Thus, after watching the first season of the anime and reading the electric tale of Pikachu manga, I have been inspired to write this. Please read and review cheers.

I would also like to say this shall be an AU and heavily AU in regards to Ash, anyway please enjoy.

I do not own Pokémon etc etc.

The Boy from Pallet.

Ash laughed this was too easy "Sam use bite" his Mightyena tore across the five meter gap between it, and his opponents Raticate. The Raticate attempted to dodge the attack but it was no match for Sam's speed, she gripped the creature's neck between her jaws and didn't let go no matter how much the thing struggled.

Ash smiled "well Gary I would say that is…" Ash counted on his figures, "the fourth time in a row I've beaten you, concede the battle and I may forgive you for those remarks regarding Sam."

Gary seemed to shake with anger before his hand reluctantly reached down to his belt and grabbed a Pokeball. Through clenched teeth he almost seemed to spit "Raticate return." A red beam shot out of the ball and consumed the rat Pokémon before dragging it back into the ball.

Ash raised his fist in triumph then smiled, he turned to face the small crowd that had gathered in the park to watch the battle. He bowed and received a cheer from the small crowd made up mostly of school children who had been walking home when they had seen the clash between Gary and Ash, as these two boys had been rivals ever since they were…well Ash couldn't remember but people came because their battles were always intense.

Sam was lowered to the ground and was snarling at Gary, Ash smiled again and said "I think you ought to apologize to her too."

Gary seemed to turn red with rage at being humbled in this way the angry Mightyena started to advance on his position, "I'm sorry I said those things but…" he paused and smiled "doesn't change the fact your Pokémon is sti-", he never got a chance to finish his sentence as he was knocked onto his arse by a mighty growl from Sam. This caused Gary cry to let out a cry of rage then storm out of the park, barging through the small crowd that had gathered in the town's main park as he went.

Ash laughed then whistled for Sam to return she ran right back to him, he then knelt down to her level and gave her a few strips of Tauros Jerky. He stood back up and patted her on the head as she tucked into the meat, he smiled again he and Sam had been inseparable ever since he had gotten her as a puppy for his twelfth birthday present and that had been five years ago. She had been a present from his Father, it was quite ironic and sad Ash thought to himself, that he had a stronger relationship with Sam then he did with his father, but of course the Pokémon and the Gym always came first with his dad.

Ash was snapped out of his bitter thoughts by a female voice calling his name, he looked over to the park path and saw May (Gary's sister younger sister.) running over to him, she seemed breathless. She stopped and put her hands on her knees as she struggled to regain her breath she was still in school uniform which was your usual fair of blazer tie and a black skirt, she was also carrying her school bag over one shoulder.

Once she had rested for a brief moment she looked up and spoke through ragged breath "why…why were you two fighting this time?"

Ash smirked "bit out of shape aren't you May?"

May rolled her eyes, "If you must know I have been gymnastic club for the past two hours so I'm worn out from that thank you very much, anyway why were you two fighting?"

He put his hand on his heart and said "In my defence, this time I am almost certain it wasn't my fault, I was just walking out of the Pokemart with Sam here", he paused to rub the Mightyena behind the ears. "Anyway as I was saying I was walking out of the shop minding my own business when what do you know? Garry bumps into Sam and almost trips over, he then starts flinging insults at her and I couldn't have that, could I?"

May simply rolled her eyes she then brushed away a lock of brown hair that had fallen over her eyes "why were in the Pokemart anyway? Do you work there now?

Ash chuckled nervously then said "weeeeelllll you know how I've graduated from high school and I didn't get the grades to get into Uni? Well I was heading down to the Pokemart as my last ditch effort to find a job locally, you're lucky you got that internship down at Professor Oak's lab."

May frowned then said " you didn't get the grades? But I thought you did really well in your history and Pokémon biology classes?"

Ash nodded "I did I got A in both of them in fact I was just rubbish at everything else hence my attempt to get a badly paid store job."

May seemed to be in deep thought then smiled and said "well I have an idea…why don't you go professional as a Pokémon trainer!"

Ash gave her a puzzled look, "you really think I could do that?"

She smiled and nodded "sure you could, I mean you're one of the best if not the best in the entire town. Gary is going to do it and Professor Oak has said he has the skills so I don't see why you couldn't, and I after all your dad is a gym leader and one of the top masters in Kanto, we see him on tv all the time so it's like in your blood."

Ash seemed to consider this he could either try his luck at being a Pokémon Trainer or…stay here and try to get a most likely crappy job, he could always join the army? Although he had no real appetite for that. Ash sighed then replied "I don't know May I honestly don't know what I want to do with my life."

May smile "well if you do decide to become a trainer pop by Oak's lab, he will give you some things to get you started and some advice I'm sure." May looked down at her wrist to check her watch, "listen I have to get to Oak's so I'll see you later okay?" Ash was about to reply when she leaned in and hugged him tightly. "Bye Ash", and with that she crossed the road and headed off in the direction of Oak's lab.

Sam started nudging his back with her mussel, " hmm what's that Sam? Oh right yeah we need to be getting back. Mums at work so Char is most likely getting hungry by now come on lets go." Thus Ash and Sam left the park and headed home, the streets were quite busy as children returned home from school and people were returning from work.

He finally made it back after a ten minute walk passing his next door neighbours Garry and May's house as he did so. He got to his front door and started to open it but before he had even fully opened an orange mass had tackled him so he was now lying on his back and was now sitting on his chest. "Nice to see you to Char," the Charmander sitting on him responded by giving Ash what appeared to be a toothy smile. Still lying on his back Ash groaned and said "well I'm glad to see you and all but...Char mate umm you're sort of crushing my ribs."

The Charmander smiled then jumped off, but before Ash could get back up Sam came up to him and gave him a lick on the forehead."Ha thanks Sam, come on, let's get you guys some dinner."

Ash walked through the house and headed straight for the kitchen, he went to the fridge and was about to open it when he noticed a yellow post it note on the front of the fridge it read as fellows, 'Sorry honey I'm working late tonight and our supplies are running low so I left you some money why don't you grab yourself some takeaway, love Mum.'

Ash opened the frezzer door at the bottom of the fridge and sighed, she had been right. Apart from a frozen loaf of bread and a half eaten tub of ice cream there was nothing. He sighed again as moved over to the cupboard and grabbed the Pokémon chow. This would be the third time this week that she hadn't been home, he didn't mind much he was seventeen after all but still.

As he was placing the bowels full of chow down on the floor for Char and Sam he almost jumped out of his skin when the phone started ringing, quickly he ran out of the kitchen and into the hallway and managed to answer the phone just in time, the voice on the end of the line was a somewhat pleasant surprise.

"Hello, Ash is that you?" It was his father one of the greatest if not the greatest Gym leaders in Kanto.

"Umm hey dad yeah it's me, just got home from job hunting again."

"You still haven't found a job?"

"Well…No, no I haven't, It's mostly because this is a very small rural town not many jobs going."

"Well keep looking you are almost a full-fledged adult now, you need to take responsibility for yourself."

"Dad I hope you won't be lecturing me when we go camping speaking of which, I have to say I'm really psyched for the trip to Johto next week. I think I'll probably be taking Char as well as Sam so he can get more exper-"

"About that...it's why I'm calling. I'm afraid I have to cancel the camping trip."

Ash was stunned momentarily "What do you mean we've been planning this trip for about a year…Why are you cancelling?"

Ash's dad sighed, "I have a lot of work to do with the league for the next couple of months; apparently there is some new trainer who is blowing through gym leaders like they are going out of style, and the funniest thing is the bloke had got a colour as a name. Anyway I need to be prepared for when he comes so I'm afraid we're going to have cancel for the foreseeable future."

Ash gritted his teeth 'yep of course the bloody gym and league come first', "oh no it's fine dad you know Pokémon come first even before me but whatever."

"Oh Ash don't be like that."

"We've been planning this trip for a year and a half? Not to mention you never bloody see me or mum."

"Ash I…I have to do important work…for you and your mother's sake."

Not wanting to continue this conversation further, Ash used the crap excuse of "oh I think Char has used ember in the house again well I gotten go, bye" Ash swore he heard his dad try to say one last thing but he didn't want to listen.

Ash walked into the living room and just sat down on the sofa, he was devastated he had been looking forward to this for about a year.

Ash sighed picked up the remote from the coffe table it had been laying on, and switched on the tv he was greeted with images of a Pokémon league battle, it appeared that a Charizard and a Salamence were fighting in the middle of a huge area, the cameras struggled to keep up with the speed of the two Pokémon. They moved like blurs of blue and red light, Ash watched the exchange of these two dragons and was fascinated and for a moment he forget about his father troubles these two Pokémon were so powerful, at one point the Charizard seemed to create a tornado of fire that seemed to consume central part of the area when the fire cleared the Salamence was on the ground and the Charizard was victorious. They cut to the victorious trainers face and as Ash watched his beaming smile and how he was being handed his prize money and the adoration the crowd threw on him, he thought back to what May had said.

"You know what. I will drop by Oaks tomorrow I mean it's better than hanging around this dump right?" His only response was a bark from Sam.

About ten minutes later Ash was out of the door followed by Sam and Char the sky was now a shade of orange from the setting sun. After taking the shortcut from through the park he got to the centre of Pallet in five minutes. As he walked along the pavement, past the various shops on his way to the pizza place, he began to seriously think about what May had said, could he really become a Pokémon master?

An internal debate raged in his mind, he was still having this internal debate when he stepped out onto the road without looking, right into the path of an oncoming truck. He would have been run down right there if not for a hand grabbing the back of his shirt and dragging him back just in time to avoid the vehicle.

Shaken, he turned around to be greeted with the sight of a very serious looking red headed girl, wearing a yello t-shirt, blue shorts and red dungarees. "What the hell did you think you were doing you could have gotten killed…hey are you even listening to me?"

Ash realized he had been starring it couldn't be helped really, those emerald eyes of hers were quite stunning. He hastily replied "Umm yeah of course I am thank you so much, I'd probably be red mush by now if you hadn't of pulled me back thanks."

The girl smiled "yeah you probably would be…hmm your Mightyena seems to like me as well as your Charmander."

After a brief moment of confusion Ash realized what the girl meant Sam was licking her hand while Char was nuzzling up to her leg. "Oh gee thank guy's I almost got run over, but yeah I'm fine ignore me thanks lads."

The girl smiled "well it's not my fault if your Pokémon like me more than you."

Ashe furrowed his brow, "well it is strange, she doesn't usually warm to strangers that fast, well Mightyena's never warm to strangers."

The girl kneeled down to Sam's level then said while rubbing the back of Sam's neck "well we girls have to stick together don't we?"

Ash smiled and thought to himself that maybe this day wouldn't be completely horrible, "hmm If you don't mind me asking what's your name miss…?"

She stood back up and faced Ash "oh yeah I didn't introduce myself did I? I'm Misty" she offered her hand to Ash which he gladly took.

"Well I'm Ash and this Mightyena is Sam and this Charmander is Char." Ash paused for a moment than smiled. "Before I almost died, I was on my way to buy Pizza and the least I could do is buy you some dinner or a drink or something as a measure of repayment for saving my life, what do you say?"

Misty crossed her arms and seemed to ponder his question then she seemed to smirk evilly, "so…are you asking me out on a date?"

Ash blushed furiously for a second but he managed to reel it back under control, but it was already too late she had seen it but her only response was a sly smile.

"No, no…Not a date per say but hey, you get free food," Ash replied.

Misty laughed and Ash had to admit the sound was pleasant to his ears. "I'm sorry but I've already eaten, I have to get back to my camp thanks for the offer though…but Ash tell me are you any good in Pokémon battles?"

Ash nodded "yeah I'm not half bad why?"

"Well if you come to my camp which is by the gleaming waterfall, do you know where that is?" After he nodded in the affirmative she continued "anyway come to my camp near there tomorrow at six o' clock and challenge me to a Pokemon battle. I will consider that repayment."

While a bit disappointed she wouldn't be coming to get dinner with him he still had a chance it seemed so he shrugged off the rejection of his offer and smiled at her. "Sure it's a deal…" he paused and smirked "although I will feel bad about beating a girl."

Misty frowned "oh you think you will win haha how cute, see you tomorrow then Ash." With that Misty started to walk down the street Ash watched her go and started daydreaming until a bark from Sam roused him from his thoughts.

"Sam I was not looking where you think I was looking" Sam just growled in response. Ash sighed "come on you two let's get dinner then go home."

Please read and review and let me know what you think, I also promise there shall be more battles next chapter so cheerio for now.


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